Laura Benanti and Jason Jones to Host 33rd Annual Lucille Lortel Awards

The 33rd Annual Lucille Lortel Awards celebrating achievements Off-Broadway will be handed out on Sunday, May 6, 2018. Vulture is now reporting that this year's hosts will be Laura Benanti and Jason Jones.

Among the special honors to be presented this year - award-winning Playwright Eve Ensler will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. A Tony® and Obie Award-winning playwright, Ms. Ensler's newest, most personal work In the Body of the World opened on February 6th at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center. Her new play The Fruit Trilogy will open Spring 2018 at Abingdon Theatre Company at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.

Lucille Lortel Award-winning composer Michael Friedman will posthumously be inducted onto the famed Playwrights' Sidewalk in front of the Lucille Lortel Theatre. He won the 2011 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. He also received Lortel Award nominations as a composer and lyricist for This Beautiful City, Saved, The Fortress of Solitude, and Pretty Filthy.

WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) will be honored for their Outstanding Body of Work. The organization, which was founded in 1978, is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing, and promoting the work of female-identified and trans theater artists at every stage in their careers. Their latest show, the critically acclaimed [PORTO], written by Kate Benson, is currently playing at WP Theater. The last time an institution was awarded the Outstanding Body of Work was Lincoln Center Theater in 2010.

Members of the general public are welcome to attend the 7:00 PM ceremony. Public tickets are $75.00 and will be available starting April 3, via phone at 212-998-4941, online at www.nyuskirball.org and in person at the Skirball Center's Shagan Box Office (556 LaGuardia Pl.) from Tuesday - Saturday from 12 - 6 PM, up until two hours before showtime.

The Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway were created in 1985 by the Off-Broadway League. The Lortel Awards recognize excellence in Off-Broadway by honoring the invaluable contribution of artists to the theatre community. Representatives of the Off-Broadway League, Actors' Equity Association, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, in addition to theatre journalists and academics and other Off-Broadway professionals, serve on the Voting Committee. Awards may be given in the following categories: Play, Musical, Solo Show, Revival, Alternative Theatrical Experience, Director, Choreographer, Lead Actor and Actress in a Play and Musical, Featured Actor and Actress in a Play and Musical, Scenic, Costume, Lighting, Sound, and Projection Design. The following honorary awards may also be given: Lifetime Achievement Award, Body of Work (awarded to an institution), the Edith Oliver Service to Off-Broadway Award and induction onto the Playwrights' Sidewalk in front of the historic Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City. For more information, please see www.LortelAwards.org.

Photo Credits: Laura Benanti by Walter McBride; Jason Jones by Andrew Werner / AndrewWernerPhotography.com